Albert "Cap" Lavin, a decorated high school and college basketball player, a longtime English teacher and the father of St. John's head basketball coach Steve Lavin, has died. Cap Lavin was 82.

Mr. Lavin attended St. Ignatius and was named San Francisco's high school player of the decade for the 1940s. A guard noted for his ballhandling, Mr. Lavin played for USF in the early 1950s. He was inducted into the USF Hall of Fame in 1997.

That also was the year Mr. Lavin retired as an English teacher. He spent most of his career at Drake High in San Anselmo, and he also taught at Cal, San Francisco State and Dominican College (now Dominican University).

Mr. Lavin and his wife, Mary, were married for six decades. Steve Lavin is the youngest of their six children.

Steve Lavin left his St. John's team Sunday morning, before its game at Syracuse, to return to the Bay Area.

"Obviously, he was really hurt," assistant coach Rico Hines said. "You can't prepare for losing a man that you love so much. I told Coach we would be there for him."

On Dec. 4, USF honored Mr. Lavin at halftime of its game against St. John's. In an interview two days before that game, Steve Lavin talked about what made his father special.

"Strength and depth, those are the two things that come to mind," Steve Lavin said. "There's a depth, a gravitas and then a strong will, an inner strength that distinguishes him.

"And then what balances that is the charisma, the sense of humor and a spirit of gratitude that lights up a room."

In a Chronicle story about Mr. Lavin's retirement that ran in 1997, he described his passion for reading.

"I feel truly composed when I read," Mr. Lavin said. "It's the way you get when you return to a familiar neighborhood.

"You know the expression, 'I feel like myself'? That's what it is. It's the heightened and sharpened sensibilities that come from trying to understand the world."